Makely

Let's Make Life Awesome

The Year in Review

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As the year draws to a close, I can’t help but look back over the past year and fall in love (again) with some of my favorite projects.

Yep, it’s time for a Top Ten of 2009 list.
You totally thought you were going to get away with me not doing one of these, didn’t you? You were wrong!
Lindsay’s Top Ten Favorite Projects of 2009
10. Painting Laminate Furniture – With some patience, you too can paint a piece of laminate (aka plastic) furniture.
9. Transforming a Jurassic Thrift Store Find – I really want to know who originally purchased this dinosaur/clown lamp.
8. $7 Burlap Table Runner – Create a versatile, year-round table runner with no sewing.
7. Old Light Fixture Turned Candelabra – It’s even cooler now.
6. Placemats Become Window Valences – A little creativity goes a long way.
5. Zack’s Big Surprise – Forty-eight solid hours of painting delights my 3 year old son.
4. Breathing New Life into an Old Chair – This re-do is now the favorite seat in the house.
3. Rags to Riches Thrift Store Desk – My husband couldn’t imagine why I brought this home; I can’t imagine life without it.
2. Britney Spears/Kid Rock Coffee Table Gets a Face Lift – This one speaks for itself.
1. The Book Wreath – The most wonderful $2 wreath in the world.
Thank you so much for finding me and welcoming me into your blog world in 2009. Will you continue join me in 2010? I sure hope so. I have a lot up my proverbial sleeve.
Happy end of 2009! I’ll catch you on the flip side.
I linked up this post with the Good Bye 2009 parties happening at The Inspired Room, The Nesting Place and The Lettered Cottage.

I’m No Longer the Only Skirt Wearer in My House

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The day after Christmas, the little table underneath the television in our living room looked like this.

Yikes! Christmas brought a Wii, and a Wii brought a lot of “stuff” with it.

I’ve mentioned before that I have big plans for the space underneath my TV, but I’m going to need big funds to do it. In other words, it’s gonna be a while. This little table is one that simply found a home here when I needed it to hold the DVR box and DVD player. However, the thing I hate about it is all the wires. My good-intentioned husband put that white tubey thing on them thinking that it “hides” them. Um, unless they make invisible tubey things that, in turn, make your wires invisible, that’s not gong to work.

So, needing a new solution that would hide the wires and all of that Wii “stuff,” I headed to Hobby Lobby. I picked up 3 yards of a neutral colored cotton canvas with the hopes of making a slipcover for the table.

Once home, I cut a piece of canvas large enough to cover the top of the table. I wanted it to hang down just over the edge over the table.

Then, I took the remaining fabric (which was about 1.5 times the width of the table) and attached it to the top cover with pins. The fabric was folded widthwise so that I didn’t have to worry about a hem on the bottom edge of the skirt. The selvage edges are at the top where it’s pinned. I pinned it on the sides first and then worked towards the little pleat in the front.

After pinning it, I tried to use iron-on Velcro to attach the skirt to the top piece. That plan failed miserably, as iron-on Velcro just wasn’t strong enough to hold the canvas. So, I grabbed my trusty glue gun (really! I did!) and glued the skirt to the top piece. It worked perfectly! I had some grosgrain ribbon on hand, and I just hot glued that on top of my seam. I glued fabric to fabric so I wouldn’t have to damage the table itself.

Voila! It’s certainly not perfect, but I think it looks much better than all of those cords and wires! Plus, we are able to store our Wii games and accessories under the table, and it’s all hidden by a pretty little skirt.

This was incredibly easy to throw together, and now I’m no longer the only one in my house who wears a skirt. Do you think you have a use for something like this in your own home?